FORGIVENESS
by Gary Rosenberg

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Jesus as he was nailed to the cross

Luke 23:34

“A non-violent

person is not afraid of a tyrant but is kind to him. The law of

compassion tells us that we cannot be kind to those of whom we are

afraid.  Forgiveness is the virtue of the brave.”

“Forgiveness is choosing to love.  It is the first skill of self-giving love.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Have you ever said something hurtful or done something which you later asked yourself, “Why did I do that?”  Have you recalled stories about someone who did some wrongful act to society or individual and later said, “I don’t know why I did it,” or “Voices told me to do this?”  These situations happen all the time.  Even as we try hard to change our behavior, taking a serious path towards more awareness, we may find that out of nowhere we display hurtful actions once again and are seemingly taking these directions from some other command.  Then we find we have placed ourselves in a perpetual circle of guilt.  Why does this happen?

How many times have we held resentments towards others who may have hurt us physically or emotionally?  We relive the experience over and over and each time we convince ourselves that this person was wrong to be so hurtful and we build our resentment ever greater until we feel a deep burning anger inside.  Why do we do this?

“How many times do we pay for one mistake? The answer is thousands of times. The human is the only animal on earth that pays a thousand times for the same mistake. The rest of the animals pay once for every mistake they make. But, not us.  We have a powerful memory. We make a mistake, we judge ourselves, we find ourselves guilty, and we punish ourselves. If justice exists, then that was enough; we don’t need to do it again. But every time we remember, we judge ourselves again, we are guilty again, and we punish ourselves again, and again and again…

How many times do we make our spouse, our children, or our parents pay for the same mistake? Every time we remember the mistake, we blame them again and send them all the emotional poison we feel at the injustice, and then we make them pay again for the same mistake. Is that justice?”

– Don Miguel Ruiz – The Four Agreements

As I’ve discussed before we humans have been created with two identities:  The ego and the Self.  What we often refer to as I, me or mine is often aligned with the ego.  However, our true I is the Self or Soul.  The ego is attracted to and connects us with the world of physical form and the five senses.  The Self is that of God.  It is perfect, wise and all knowing.  The Self is joyous, loving and creative.

The physical world of duality along with the ego was created in part to experience that which we are not and to remind us of our true Self. (For more on this see my blog post ‘How We Create Our World’ and the book “Conversations with God,” by Neale Donald Walsh). This world was created as part of our self-realization process.  In the world of form we tend to find ourselves much more aligned with our ego than our Self, even though at times we may recognize that we are something much greater than our ego.  In the world of form we have given the ego much power.

All of us struggle with the ongoing conflict between our ego and Self which is why even those of us who have committed to the self-realization process and spiritual growth encounter the rise of the ego in the most unlikely circumstances.  Through self-realization we try to understand and love the ego, though we work to establish appropriate boundaries allowing the Self to lead our lives.  This means we reject the thoughts which are attracted to the ego (Physical wants, money, power, accumulation of things, control, greed, fear, pain) and focus on those thoughts which are aligned with the Self (Love, selflessness,  joy, kindness, generosity, fearlessness, tolerance).

The ego has its role to play in the world of physical form and can help us wade through many challenges of this world as we continue on our Path.  However, left unbridled the ego will take over our lives and lead us astray of the goal of self-realization causing much pain and suffering to ourselves and others.  The ego is neither good nor bad.  It has its purpose and with awareness we can create a cooperative partnership and understanding between the ego and the Self remembering that the Self is our true essence.

This is a struggle every human being is engaged in and while each person’s awareness of this reality is different all must be tolerated as they proceed down their own path towards self-realization and enlightenment.  Everyone’s path is different and everyone does achieve enlightenment at some point through this eternal journey.  Along the way people experience fear, hurt and pain which is a reminder of how challenging and determined the path towards self-realization is.  The Apostle Paul recognizes this struggle, “The good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not I do.”  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr addresses this struggle in his speech on Love and Forgiveness May 5, 1964, “This strange dichotomy, this tension within human nature is one of the tragic themes of man’s earthly pilgrimage.”

Forgiveness is the power of the Self to overcome and transcend this struggle. When we forgive we strip the ego of its power over us and reject all thoughts and negative energies of fear, anger and hate.  We understand that the actions or words of those who seemingly harm us are not coming from the individual’s essence, but from their ego.  We understand the struggle and with forgiveness show this person love with the hope that they will remember their true essence and eventually raise their Self above their ego. 

Likewise we forgive ourselves when we harm others for these same reasons.  And, as we progress on our Path and our ego continues to fight back with unwanted actions or words, we will hopefully find that as we become more enlightened these ego outbursts become less and less. 

Remember that forgiveness is not absolution.  While we or even society may absolve someone of punishment through forgiveness, the Universal Laws (Do unto others as you would unto yourself.  What goes around comes around.)  are still in play.  However, forgiveness breaks the vicious circle of negative thoughts which Don Miguel Ruiz describes in the quote above from his book, “The Four Agreements.”  Recalling how we create our realities with the focused attention on our thoughts, we can see the importance of forgiveness in helping us create a more loving world we were placed here to do.

Always remember that our true essence is the Self/Love.  Nothing that we encounter in the world of physical form can change this.  We have free will, we are immortal, God loves us unconditionally and whatever hurt or pain we experience is temporary.  Even if our pain lasts a lifetime because we have not become aware of our true power to create, it will not last eternally.  Whether we choose to forgive or not God will always forgive us and those we may have chosen not to.  While we bear the consequences of our actions through the Universal Laws, we have the power to choose Love at any time.  As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Forgiveness is choosing to love.  It is the first skill of self-giving love.”

Wishing you all a Happy Holiday Season full of love, joy and forgiveness.

LIFE IS CONSTANT CHANGE
by Gary Rosenberg

“I am strong, I am brave, I am immortal”

                                                                                -Positive Affirmation

“If you won don’t gloat, if you lost don’t despair.  Treat others as you would yourself”

                                                                                -Shared on Facebook

This presidential election has exerted much energy on all of us and most of it has been negative through a barrage of negative thoughts and words.  Many of our friends are hurt and may be fearful.  It is during these times when I try to dig deeper and look at a much larger reality of humanity and the Universe.  As I do this I find comfort in knowing that I and the world around me will change as quickly as my next breath.  And, that I and all of us have the power to create positive realities every day.

This is a time to be fearless and call up our true essence which is Love.  I think it may be helpful to have a discussion on how our human manifestation of this presidential election plays a role in the wider human drama.  As I do this I will entertain some of the concepts discussed in my earlier writings, many of which have been attributable to resources cited in those posts where you can refer.

Politics is a very tribal activity.  Our tribes are the political parties we affiliate with.  We define our tribes and ourselves by our rules. We view  our rules as the right rules and generally the other party’s rules as the wrong rules.  In fact we make it even simpler:  I’m from party A and therefore I am right.  You are from party B so you are wrong.  This is an oversimplification, but is basically how politics is played out in our society.  Add egos and lust for power and you can understand the gridlock we have in Congress.

The Universe does not define right or wrong.  In fact the Universe (God, Universal Mind) remains non-judgmental.  Through the self –realization process or evolution of the Soul we get to experiment, make errors and discover or remember our true essence.  Ultimately, we are immortal – our essence, Soul or pure consciousness never dies only re-manifests itself in another form as the self-realization process continues eternally. This is an infinite process and is constantly changing.

The Universe does not punish us.  Any pain or punishment we experience we cause through our thoughts and actions through the laws of cause and effect or Karma and the law of attraction.  God does not punish us.  We are immortal and get to make as many errors as is required to grow and evolve spiritually.  God loves us unconditionally.  Any realities we experience through the self-realization process we create through the act of free will, not God.

The bottom line:  In God’s world (which is our world) we get to do whatever we want, make whatever errors we do, cause pain or joy, fear or love transition (die) and then get to try again infinitely.  Love is always there for us no matter who we are.  Everyone has a Soul and all of us are connected through our Souls. Our paths towards self-realization are all different, but they all lead to the same place – eventually.  And, whole societies are going through their self-realization processes and have established their own paths as we see through differing cultures.

Once we understand this we need not be fearful.  Fear keeps us from being the creative beings we are.  We get to practice our creative powers (through our thoughts) make mistakes, learn and continue on our path.  It is important to try and not be judgmental of others who are on their path.  This often requires forgiveness of our self and others. We need to forgive to detach our self from the negative energies of anger, fear and hatred.  When Gandhi was shot he gave the Hindu sign of forgiveness as he sank to the ground.  Practicing forgiveness is a powerful energy in the self-realization process and is a great connector to the Universe.

Now we can get back to the presidential election.  For decades there have been powerful people who through their thoughts and vision were creating a Globalist political, social and economic structure of control over whole societies.  I have written on this in past posts, so I will not go into detail here.  What we need to understand is that these Globalists have been able to exploit countries for their resources, labor and markets.  In this process they have gained much power and have concentrated power in numerous nations.  Essentially the Globalist power structure has limited the creative and intellectual power of individuals and sovereignty of nations.  What we are experiencing now is a wholesale rejection of this vision both in Europe and the US by those most disenfranchised by the Globalist agenda.

Think of this rejection as a demand by our collective Souls for the freedom (freewill) to choose whatever self-realization path we want.  This has manifested itself in unpredictable election results both in Europe and the US and will continue.  This is the drama playing out and as part of this human drama we all have a role to play.  Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Bernie Sanders, Prime Minister Theresa May, individual voters, you, me and all of us have our roles.

However, this process can be a manifestation of fear or Love and I see a lot of fear.  Fearful people give up their power to others to solve their problems and deliver their hopes and dreams.  Fearful people make errors, act out in hate and anger and eventually may find themselves disappointed in their realities resulting in a “how did I get here” situation.  This is what I think is happening in our presidential election.

Let’s consider how we as a society with our collective thoughts may have manifested this election and its outcome.  By observing the physical manifestations in our American culture we can get a pretty good reading of the strongest thoughts permeating our society.  To keep it simple let’s draw up a list:

Reality TV

Numerous TV shows and movies with violence

Numerous movies about war

TV shows like ‘Pure Genius’ which show technology and technologists as the new gods

An education system which emphasizes the learning of technology to prepare for employment with corporations rather than teaching civics, logic, reasoning and critical thinking to develop an educated and knowledgeable citizenship

An ever increasing infatuation with technology and movement to integrate humans with this technology

Decades long efforts to manipulate the environment, weather, human genome and nature in general

Inner city deterioration in which the poor are left with drugs, crime, decrepit housing and schools with little hope of advancing their lives while we keep them dependent on government programs

A society focused on consumption and accumulation of material things

A fascination with spectacles

An obsession with making a lot of money and becoming a billionaire

A news media focused on bottom line profit over seeking and reporting the truth.  (Numerous media organizations while noting that Trump may not be good for the country, was great for their bottom line.)

A cult like fascination with guns

Major investments in our military, security agencies (CIA, FBI, NSA), camera surveillance and prisons

And, a large indifference for our democracy as illustrated by the recent data on the 2016 voter turn-out:

117 million eligible voters didn’t vote.  Of the 241 million people eligible to vote only 200 million registered.  51 to 52% or a bare majority voted this time.  (Thanks to my friend George Mokray for bringing this to my attention.)

Now, remember the list above is neither right nor wrong as far as the Universe is concerned and we must not pass judgement.  However, when thoughts manifesting this list of activities are generated over and over the law of attraction will manifest realities accordingly.  Greed, fear, material obsessions, ego centricity and lust for power; all of these are the overwhelming negative energies our society continuously sends out to the Universe.

This is not to forget the positive energies emanating from our society, but these are obviously not enough to affect the law of attraction or we would not be in the situation we are today.  If we are to change our manifested reality as a nation, we need to change our collective consciousness and this starts with a determined discussion of who we are as a nation.  This discussion needs to be spiritually driven, inclusive and nonjudgmental.  It requires a different type of leadership at all levels of society and may likely be received with fear and distrust.  It will be a challenging effort, but is necessary if we are to create a new vision and reality for our country.

So, what role Donald Trump will play in this drama as President of the United States we really do not know at this time (Full disclosure:  I voted for neither Trump nor Clinton).  Based on our observations of the campaign he tapped into a sea of fear from a large group of the electorate who viewed themselves as disenfranchised and ignored by the power elite and as victims of Globalization.  I don’t see Donald Trump as the change agent others do and believe he has been driven by ego rather than Soul.  This is not a judgement only an observation.  Keep in mind as we view events through the scope of the Universe there is no right or wrong.  Whatever actions Donald Trump takes will result in Universal consequences for him – at some point. 

In the larger Universe what is taking place now is an enormous amount of change for our world.  How we as a society respond to this change will help define who we are spiritually.  Will we continue in our tribal ways seeing things as black and white or will we work to empower each other to achieve our greatest goal which is spiritual growth?   

This is a hard question.  It requires us to reexamine the rules we set for ourselves, our communities and our country.  It requires us to stop looking at our Presidents and our political leaders to “save us” and rediscover and remember our own power to create the kind of realities we want.

I found no candidate who articulated a vision for who we are as society other than slogans directed to parts of the electorate they wanted votes from.   I believe this is because neither candidate has yet connected with their Soul and remains too attached to their ego. I found anger and vitriol tapping into the fears of people.  I found defensiveness, deceit and detachment to the real concerns of an electorate hungry for change.  If we are to empower those disenfranchised and all of us we need a vision coming from a deeper place within our collective Souls.

Empowering people means leading in a way that allows them to know their power to solve their own problems and that everyone has value as members of society and humanity.  This vision did not resonate from either candidate.  The negative energy from this presidential campaign overpowered the positive that was possible.  This is how we got the results we did.

In the scheme of the Universe what transpired in this election matters only in that it is a manifestation of thoughts.  It matters that we understand the power we have to create our realities whether our thoughts are derived from fear or Love.  It matters that we understand that each of us is a change agent and can affect what goes on in our lives and our communities.  It matters that we recognize that the events of November 8, 2016 are already changing.  It matters that we understand that this election is part of a larger consciousness of change in our world and that we always have the opportunity to direct our thoughts, energies and visions to create whatever realities we want. 

I know we ultimately are on a path to Good.  While this path is never ending we get to create Good at every point along the way.  The choice is ours.  If we err, we get to try again.  If we succeed we get to spread joy and Love.  Ultimately everyone wants this.  Many times they have to remember that they want this.  As we travel this path never despair, never fear, remember your power and your true self and enjoy the ride for God loves all of us unconditionally.  We are all immortal and the Universe is full of wonders and beauty we have yet to see.

Know you are powerful.  Know you are Love.

THOUGHTS BEFORE THE ELECTION
by Gary Rosenberg

“If you look at the world today, lies are main stream – truth is a fringe phenomenon.”

“Belief leads people to accept the most ridiculous things as the absolute truth.”

-Sadhguru

In the past I’ve written about the power we have as human beings to create our own realities with our thoughts.  And, that these realities can extend to whole families, communities and societies.  Our thoughts are our power and controlled by fear, ego or illusions they create realities we may not exactly want and often lead to the proverbial question, “How did I/we get here?”   In order to create realities we want, we need to have a clear vision of what they look like and focus our thoughts accordingly detaching ourselves from negative or disruptive thoughts we encounter daily.  This is not an easy task.

With this as the underlying premise for our discussion let’s look at the 2016 election.  Please keep in mind that what I am proposing is my opinion based on certain knowledge and personal experience.  It should not be considered as reporting or in any way an attempt to influence your thinking.  It is an effort to allow you to consider a different view of today’s political events as a manifestation of our thoughts individually and as a society.

The American political process and especially the presidential election is a huge distraction from taking control over our own lives, governing ourselves and manifesting the kind of society we want because through our political process we have essentially given up our power to the visions and actions of those we elect. Our representative government as we know it allows us to, every two and four years, elect people who will make governing decisions for us and go on with our daily lives.

Is this working for us?  Do we like the decisions our leaders make?  Have we created a society we wanted?  Have we even been clear on the kind of society we want?

Most people would cite the Constitution as the framework for the kind of society we want.  It is at best a guide to how we want to govern ourselves, but this does not present a detailed vision of a society which is ever changing in its physical realities.  What is shaping our society are the leaders we elect, the media we listen to every day, the groups we tend to gravitate to, the work we choose and all the ideas we accept as ‘truth’ from these experiences.

At the time of this writing, November 1, 2016 our presidential election has been shaken by the announcement of James Comey, FBI Director to re-open the Hillary Clinton email investigation due to the finding of 650 thousand emails which as of this time may or may not be relevant to the investigation.  Earlier in the year Mr. Comey announced that no charges would be made against Clinton based on findings at that time.  Hillary was cruising to victory.  For Democrats all was good.

Our reaction to and view of the recent Comey announcement will vary depending on which political party we belong to, which media outlets we listen to, who our family, friends and associates are and myriad other influences in our lives prior and up to this moment.  It is likely that the search for truth and any effort to seek this through a logical questioning process will not happen.  Each of us has been ‘programmed’ to react the way we do.

This is the time to detach ourselves from all the noise and hysteria and try to understand what is taking place from a deeper human perspective.  Regardless of the election outcome we will all survive the next four years and have endless opportunities to create realities in our personal lives, family and communities.

Let’s begin with James Comey.  It is likely that he made the announcement as he did for personal reasons.  Not simply because he has a history of reacting this way, but also because he is conditioned to act either in fear, by ego or in most cases both.  We know the FBI had a mutiny developing by local FBI agents as well as a Republican controlled Congress which has been pressuring him.  He also has most likely been pressured by President Obama, Justice and Democrats to frame past outcomes based on what evidence he had on the earlier email investigation.  We do not know exactly what that (email) evidence was and again depending on where you stand on party lines you will assume what you like. 

In the world of politics Mr. Comey is a survivor like many politicians.  This is his life.  What his vision of the world is depends on influences over his lifetime.  What thoughts he may have based on his fears and ego will create realities which in this case may affect a presidential election and the lives of millions of people. 

This power which seems to rest with Mr. Comey is an illusion. While he is the actor who has rocked the election with his decision he simply plays a role in a human drama with other players who also have incredible influence over outcomes based on their position and thoughts established by their fears and egos.

We all have this power.  At this time we need to dig deep and remember how powerful we are and not let the events caused by others derail the opportunities and realities we can create by detaching ourselves from our fears and egos. 

If we consider the two presidential candidates we know they are both ego driven and both not necessarily searchers of Truth.  These two candidates are the most disliked presidential candidates in our history.  Myriad information on both these candidates can be tapped showing disregard for truth, lack of integrity, opportunism, egotism, fear and questionable spiritual guidance.  I say this because there are others involved in politics we can all think of and hold in high regard.  Our two presidential candidates have chosen the paths they have based on their thoughts and visions for themselves.

These two candidates have been nominated as prospective President Elect based on the thoughts, fears and vision (or lack thereof) of major portions of our electorate.  If we look at this situation objectively without judgement we can begin to understand the role we have all played to create this situation based on our collective thoughts, fears, actions or inaction.  Yes, we in our own way have all helped to create this reality.  This is how we got here.

How do we go forward?   First, if you are worried about the election, stop.  If you haven’t voted yet then you have a responsibility and obligation as part of our democracy to vote – do so.  If you have voted, then it is time to move on.  This can be in immediate participation for a candidate of your choice and/or refocusing your attention to daily activities.  However, whatever you do at this point you need to detach yourself from any fears you may have about the ‘what if’ possibilities of the election.   Quite frankly, an obsession with your fears on the election will have some impact on its outcome.

It is time to start focusing our thoughts on the Good:  What can we do locally to affect the kind of change politically and socially we want for ourselves and our families?  How can we make our political process more inclusive of all political persuasions and refocus our attention on solving problems, rather than simply advancing our political affiliations?  What visions do we have for our families, workplace and communities?  Do we see ourselves as powerful change agents and if not, let’s start building these visions.

How we solve our problems defines who we are on a deeper spiritual basis.  Politics is a process of exchanging ideas on social matters.  It is a method of influencing people in society based on beliefs, platforms, laws, media and systems.  While it is a necessary part of any democracy it can easily be corrupted.  As such it is not necessarily the best way to solve social problems as it is a chasm away from being non-judgmental, logical and expeditious in addressing social needs.  If we want to protect ourselves from a corrupt political process we need to first start within ourselves and then take our positive energies to our local communities.  All our national political and social manifestations including our problems begin at the local level.  Whatever changes we want to make will need to start here first and begin with each of us.

We will all survive the Presidential Election of 2016. What we choose to do after the election matters.  For many of us this election reminds us of who we are not.   As human beings we create whole realities and can capture the energy exerted in this campaign season to create positive realities for ourselves and our communities. 

Let’s consider starting with the children and focus on developing creative, confident, compassionate and thinking individuals who can become the kind of future leaders we want.  Our schools need strong civics training, a love for imagination and creativity and focus on logic, reasoning and expression.  We leave ourselves susceptible to demagogues and tyrants if we have a fearful population which accepts half-truths and lies because they do not have the skills to think and take our leaders to task.

We need to bring back solid unbiased investigative reporting as the minimal requirement for any mainstream professional news organization if we are to support them.  News organizations need to find a business model which will support this.  If the media is not asking the hard questions of all our local and national leaders and pursuing truth instead of innuendo and spectacular headlines we all run the risk of losing our democracy.  For now each of us has the opportunity to seek out better news reporting online.  However, the reach and influence of major media is too great for us not to demand better of them.

We could prepare a huge list of things we would like to see changed in our society.  In fact, if we were to place any number of people from any section or sections of our country in a room with enough time to engage in thoughtful discussion without judgement I would expect most if not all would agree on very similar visions of the kind of society we want.  This is because Truth is within all of us.  We simply need to remember it and trust ourselves and others that together we can manifest it and create the beauty we have been placed here to do.

Know you are powerful. Know you are Love.

HOW WE CREATE OUR REALITY – A TRUE STORY
by Gary Rosenberg

Josh and Lizzie spent the majority of their young adult lives working in the hospitality business in the same town.  They made decisions leading them down this path working in the restaurant business which ultimately introduced them to each other.   Both in their early 30s, they knew “everyone” in the local restaurant scene and were involved in their community they called home.

Josh had recently been working the past seven years for a family establishment managing three of their eateries in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Lizzie had been working for an equal amount of time for a local Public House as their manager. They were both familiar with each of these local businesses including their owners.   Josh and Lizzie were well known and respected in their local industry and community.  You see, they both innately understood what it meant to offer service to others and their work and personal interactions exhibited this.  They were both highly successful making their respective employers highly successful.

Josh and Lizzie were a couple and shared many good times, work related ideas and dreams.  One day they were talking about having their own restaurant and asked themselves, “If we had our own place what would it look like.”  They both agreed it would be like The Commonwealth where Lizzie worked.

Several months later they both received a call from the owners of The Commonwealth saying that they were moving back to their home country and were selling their business – and they specifically wanted to sell it to Josh and Lizzie!

After four months of due diligence, securing a loan and engaging The Commonwealth’s employees in the transition process Josh and Lizzie became the new owners of the exact place they both dreamed of. 

Today the business is bustling, the customers are happy, the employees are happy and Josh and Lizzie are the proud and joyous owners of The Commonwealth.

Unbeknownst to Josh and Lizzie when they both came up with the thought and visualization of having a place like The Commonwealth they set in motion the events which made this dream a reality.  The owners could have chosen to put the business on the open market to see what kind of a (better) price they might have received with some competition for their offer.  The bank loan might not have been secured since neither Josh nor Lizzie had much savings for collateral.  The employees could have reacted with negativity.  Many different things could have happened to change the outcome.

However, Josh and Lizzie’s strong belief and detailed imagination in what they wanted and confidence that they could do it set in play Universal forces culminating in exactly what they chose.

What happened with Josh and Lizzie is only one example of the kind of power we all have.  How we create our reality is very simply through our thoughts. 

We all do this every day, mostly unknowingly and in many circumstances creating our realities both positive and negative.  The trick is controlling our thoughts so that the outcomes of these thoughts are what we want.  If we want positive outcomes we need to reject negative thoughts and only accept positive thoughts.  And for any reality we want to create our imagination needs to be as detailed as possible.

U.S Andersen takes us on a journey teaching us just how we can harness the power of our thoughts in his book, Three Magic Words.   What is important to remember is that whether we believe what Andersen has to say or not, the Universe still responds to our thoughts making realities every day.  So it behooves us to harness this power in a manner we choose or we will find ourselves asking, “How did we get here?”

As religious scriptures have told us, “God made us in his/her image.”  What this means is we have the powers to create just as God does.  (Note:  I am comfortable using the term God.  Others have chosen to refer to this Universal power as the Source, the One, the Universal Mind, the Creator and others.  However we reference this power, it is very real and we all are directly connected to it.)

When you look out on the World, keep in mind that this is Man’s creation. That is, God, giving us free will has allowed us to create that which we desire.  As I’ve discussed before, God does not judge us.  We get to create what we choose, though there are Universal laws and consequences for our creations/actions. (Do unto others as you would unto yourself.  What goes around comes around.)   In the everlasting process of Self-realization our Soul never dies, but re-manifests itself in new form to continue with the process.  This inability for our Soul to die is God’s unconditional love for his/her creation. Understanding and connecting with what is our true essence is why we are on this continual path towards Self-realization.  Through our thoughts we get to choose whether this process will be joyful or filled with pain and sorrow.

If Man’s world is full of distress it is because Man’s thoughts are filled with anger, pain, fear and sorrow.  Our media is bombarding us with negative thoughts every hour of every day. Unending wars and harm to others seems to be the reality set upon us.  Mostly this is because Man’s World is manifested by the thoughts accepted by the ego rather than the inner Self or Soul.  And yet there are those who exist in a world of seeming chaos who are happy, joyful and have created beautiful lives.

So, if we want to change the World, we first have to start with ourselves by paying attention to and changing our thoughts.  Create your own reality of beauty and by extension it will touch the World.

Know you are powerful, know you are Love.

DONALD TRUMP A MANIFESTATION OF AN ILLUSION
by Gary Rosenberg

One of the highest teachings of Eastern Spirituality is the knowing that what we experience in the material world is an illusion. That is to say that our true essence is not attached to the material world as we see it, but part of a much grandeur consciousness and reality of which we are mostly blind in our world.  This True reality is full of Joy and Love.  Our material reality is often full of fear and pain.  The material world has been designed to help us experience what we are not and hopefully remember what we are which is Love.

One of the greatest challenges we have in transcending the material world is our ego.  Our ego is intricately connected to the material.  It attaches itself to material things, thoughts, pain, imagery and all things sensual.  By attachment I mean that the ego defines us by material wants, desires, degrees, position in life, possessions and our heroes.   It defines us by our fears, hope and wishes.   Our ego offers us a false sense of empowerment deluding us into thinking that we know when we do not know, that we are free when we are not free and that we have power when in fact we have given up our power to our attachments.  For more on a discussion of the ego read Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth.

The imagery ever present in our world through technologies such as large wide screen TVs, the Internet, online Apps, Facebook,  the constant push of information and ever present marketing of things offers the ego unlimited opportunity for attachment.  This new world environment makes the self-realization process for the discovery of our true Self that much more challenging for many people.

For politicians this world of imagery and illusion is the perfect medium for attracting masses of unaware people with lies, half-baked solutions, misinformation, illogic and false hope amassing an electorate guided by ego rather than Truth towards yet another misbegotten reality.  The outcome of this process will yet again be the status quo – a world of the spiritually primitive totally unaware of their creative power to truly change things.

The Donald Trump phenomenon is not a surprise and should have been expected in a world run on ego.  The media loves Donald Trump because he continues to make them a lot of money.  Let’s not forget that the media helped create Donald Trump.

Donald Trump understands well how ego works as he says, “I play to people’s fantasies.”  “People want to believe that something is the biggest and greatest and the most spectacular.  I call it truthful hyperbole.”  “Truthful hyperbole” is where politics has evolved.  Donald Trump is the consummate egoistic politician playing to an egoistic populace.  For the electorate who are unaware, the imagery of Donald Trump is too enticing.

As I’ve said before, I am not being judgmental only observing.  If you want to understand what is going on in American politics today you need to understand ego and its attraction to all things material, its ability to delude us in thinking illusion is reality and its power to disrupt whole societies. 

Whether Donald Trump becomes President depends on how the battle of egos plays out.  And this battle is not only among the candidates, but the electorate, media, financial backers, foreign governments, corporations and of course those who rule the world.

Know you are powerful, know you are Love.

HOW WE CREATE OUR WORLD – THE POWER OF THOUGHT
by Gary Rosenberg

I’d like to engage us in a discussion to try and decipher what I see as the cause of the current world dysfunction and seeming chaos in so many countries across the planet.  This discussion is not meant to convince you of any particular ideas or potential solutions, but to give you an opportunity to expand all kinds of possibilities beyond what we typically see as reality.  What we tend to consider as real is very limiting in terms of who we really are and the power we have to manifest reality knowingly or unknowingly in our world.

Many of you over the course of your lives have read spiritual writings and/or participated in spiritual experiences such as yoga, meditation, psychic readings, retreats and more.  As such then you are aware that much more is going on in Life than we experience in our world.  I have had numerous such events in my life the most recent one which was a 2x4 across my head which finally forced me to focus on my self-realization process.  With the help of some extraordinary people, my determination and spiritual guidance I have made exceptional progress in my personal health challenges and surpassed my spiritual expectations.  There is still a long, long way to go in this the journey which is full of joy and love.

The discussion in this and following posts will be influenced by my personal experiences and validations throughout my life.  I will attempt to relate our personal power with what is going on in the world and how, while sometimes seemingly impossible we all have the power to change things.  One resource I will recommend which has had the greatest influence on my life is “Conversations with God” (the complete works) by Neale Donald Walsh.  If you’ve read this, I suggest you read it again.  If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to.  I have read numerous spiritual and philosophical writings and this one book beautifully explains so much with logic and Love that it should resonate with most of you.

OK.  So, let’s jump right in.  Why is the world so messed up?   Everything starts with our thoughts:  Our personal disposition, our health, our personal lives, our families, our friends, our communities, countries and world are manifested as our thoughts think them.  Our material creations manifest themselves through our thoughts.  Wars are manifested through our thoughts.  Loving communities are manifested through our thoughts.  This is important, because our thoughts and therefore all of us are very powerful.

Throughout history God has sent numerous messengers (Jesus, Krsna, Buddha, spiritual writers, spiritual leaders, yogis, gurus, etc) to help us remember who we really are (which is Love) and how powerful we are.  We are powerful because God has made us in his/her image.  This means we have the powers of God to create. 

Life is a process of never ending self-realization.  In this process we never die, our Self or Soul only manifests itself into another form.  In this process we forget who we truly are (Love) and based on our spiritual evolution some of us take more or less time to figure this out.  Just like God we have the power to create.  Our power to create depends on our connection with the Universe and our ability to focus our thoughts on that which we want to create.  The Universe will give us whatever we want, if we know how to communicate properly.  Not communicating properly can lead to some pretty bad results.  (My personal negativity had much to do with my ill-health).

In this world of duality God has assembled for us he has given us free choice in the process of remembering who we are.  For we cannot know what we are (Love) if we do not experience what we are not (Fear).  The trick is to always remember that we are Love and not get lost in Fear.  Remember, we do not die – ever.  Once you get beyond Fear, there is nothing but Joy.

This is easily said, but very difficult to achieve without detachment from our material world; discriminate between desire and true power in your thoughts (“I want” vs. “I am”) and be disciplined to practice a life of truth and love every day (meditation, gratitude, service, kindness, patience, calmness, respect for yourself and others).  Ancient India until this day has a whole system of gurus who teach this method.  As we know they have attempted to help humanity in this and other countries.  It is a long and determined process.

How do we get what we want from the Universe?  The process is called:  Thought, Word, and Deed.  You think it; you state it or write it and you act on it over and over and over again.  The statements have to exhibit your confidence in your power to create your reality.  If you are not clear on this you can expect to get the opposite of what you want.  To say I want money over and over again will only continue to place you in a position where you want money, because that is what the Universe hears.  Your statement of confidence needs to be, “I am wealthy.”  And, you have to take actions which will help achieve wealth.

In my personal situation one of my positive affirmations to the Universe I repeat every day is, “I am healthy, I am happy, I am holy.”  Let’s look at “I am healthy.”  I repeat this silently  in my thoughts every day when I go for my walks.  I have dramatically changed my diet and eat purely vegetarian, organic whole and non-processed foods.  I exercise and meditate daily and read positive oriented books and partake in joyful activities.  I am working with alternative health practitioners and an energy healer.  Through this process I am getting better at detachment, meaning that negative energies have less of an effect on me and material things have lost their importance.

Within our world and throughout the Universe there are civilizations which have achieved different levels of spiritual evolution.  Our world can be described as spiritually primitive.  This is not a value judgement, only an observation.  Just read the daily paper, listen to the news or watch TV and you know what I’m talking about.  Spiritually primitive people and societies run on fear and their realities manifest this fear because their thoughts constantly think fear. 

If we want to change our personal reality and on a larger scale our society we need to detach ourselves from fear and focus our thoughts on Love every day all the time.  And, we have to act in Love every day all the time.  Again, this is not an easy task, but by taking steps each day we will start to see results, particularly on a personal level.

Our world has manifested so much despair and fear because of the constant collective barrage of fear and negative thoughts and actions.  We are unknowingly communicating all of this to the Universe which is responding in kind.  The Universe does not make value judgements.  It only responds to what we think and do.  That is how powerful we are.

In the midst of a spiritually primitive world there are people and societies who are more spiritually advanced and their lives often manifest this.  However, sooner or later the prevalence of negative thoughts and actions may catch up with everyone such as the constant exploitation of nature, social manipulations and the misuse of technology.  In fact I would say we are too spiritually primitive to have been given the technology we have today.  A spiritually advanced civilization would never have made the atom bomb or the vast arsenal of poisonous chemicals we have unleashed on the planet.

In ending this conversation I will summarize some concepts to think about:

The Universe responds to our consistent thoughts and actions.  The Universe does not make judgements.  For the Universe there is no right or wrong, only what our thoughts (our power) through consistent repetition manifest in our physical world by communicating with the Universe.

There are no rules.  We get to make up our own rules (free will).  For the Universe there are only universal laws (i.e. Do unto others as you would unto yourself; what goes around comes around; we are all one)

God loves us unconditionally and nothing we do in the self-realization process will change this unconditional love.  “Anything goes,” but there are consequences for our actions (what goes around comes around).

Our true essence is Love, but we have to remember this and the self-realization process is to help us remember.

In this world we get to make our own rules (God still loves us unconditionally).  The rules we make and how we solve our problems define who we are (Spiritually primitive or spiritually advanced; fear or Love.)

Anyone can develop the power of thought word and deed and through this power manifest whatever they want.

If we want to change our world we need to advance our collective spiritual growth.

In the end, nothing matters. We never die.  We all go to God’s realm of Joy and get to continue with the self-realization process manifested in another body and even another world.   We have nothing to fear. 

With nothing to fear, what will you do?

Know you are powerful, know you are Love.

THOSE WHO RULE THE WORLD – HOW DO THEY DO IT?
by Gary Rosenberg

“There is only one perpetrator of evil on the planet:  human unconsciousness.”

                                Eckhart Tolle

"Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure-one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."

“We are on the verge of a global transformation.  All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.”

    David Rockefeller, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission

"The nation state as a fundamental unit of man's organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force: International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation-state."  --- Zbigniew Brzezinski, 1969.

“Major world powers new and old also face a novel reality – while the lethality of their military might be greater than ever, their capacity to impose control over the politically awakened masses of the world is at a historic low.  To put it bluntly:  In earlier times it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people.”

Zbigniew Brzenzski, Former US National Security Advisor and co-founder of the Trilateral Commission in a speech on November 17, 2008 at Chatham House, London.

Brzezinski was Obama's foreign policy mentor after Obama won the Presidency in 2008.

 “Depopulation should be the highest priority of the US foreign policy towards the Third World.”

“He who controls the food supply controls the people.  He who controls the energy can control whole continents.  He who controls the money can control the World.”  Henry Kissinger 1973

 "Since 1945, no American President has escaped vetting by elite Globalists. Partisan politics plays no role in this process. The one overriding issue of every Presidency has been: make sure Globalist legislation and treaties pass through to completion. Do not obstruct them. A little crooked President named Nixon got it in his head to erect anti-Globalist tariffs. He found himself on the floor looking up, with Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller's man, staring down at him, assuring him his days in the White House were over." (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)

Before continuing to read this mailing, be prepared to set aside everything you thought was true in your world view, politics and daily life.  Open your mind to other possibilities and at the same time remember that everything I say here doesn’t matter.  As hard as it may seem, try not to be judgmental and participate in this discussion as an observer.

 Remember, ultimately we are immortal.  Ultimately regardless of what we do or do not do God loves us unconditionally and we all get to experience his/her realm of Love and Joy.  However, what we choose to do or not do will define our spiritual path, will define who we are at any moment in the Present. 

I have written in the past about the Trilateral Commission which was founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller, Zbigniew Brzezinski and participants of political leaders from the US, Japan and Europe.  Regardless of what may be publicly voiced about this organization (which has become both incipient and invisible) its purpose is Globalization and World domination.  Its early conceptual beginnings can be traced to the Council on Foreign Relations which was formed in 1918.  The sought after goal of world rule is nothing new.  However, the manifestations of this collective ego have become more dangerous to the future of the planet with the introduction of ever more destructive technologies in the hands of spiritually primitive and unaware people.

How unaware are we?  People we may have cherished as leaders of our respective political parties have been directly involved with the Trilateral Commission, chosen by the Commission as elected officials and heavily influenced by the Commission’s power.

Who are some of these people?

According to official Trilateral Commission membership lists, as of 2009 there were eighty-seven members from the United States (the other 337 members are from other countries).  Thus, within two weeks of his inauguration, Obama’s appointments encompassed more than 12 percent of Commission’s entire US membership.

Trilateral appointees include (former):
* Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geithner
* Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice
* National Security Advisor, Gen. James L. Jones
* Deputy National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon
* Chairman, Economic Recovery Committee, Paul Volker
* Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis C. Blair
* Assistant Secretary of State, Asia & Pacific, Kurt M. Campbell
* Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg
* State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Haass
* State Department, Special Envoy, Dennis Ross
* State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Holbrooke

Also, Alan Greenspan, and Peter G. Peterson are all members.  Geithner’s first job after college was with Trilateralist Henry Kissinger at Kissinger Associates.

Trilateralist Brent Scowcroft was an unofficial advisor to Obama and was mentor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.  And Robert Zoelick, former president of the World Bank appointed during the G.W. Bush administration, is a member.

Who else?

Jimmy Carter

Bill Clinton

Dick Cheney

George HW Bush

Al Gore

I will not delve deeper into the Trilateral Commission.  If you want to learn more of the power of this organization and its structure you can read the book, Trilateralism edited by Holly Sklar.  You can also go online and find tons of information.

What I will tell you is that this organization has its tentacles in just about everything going on in the world today:  Political and economic policies, education, health, agriculture, climate control, wars, armaments, media, energy, food manufacture and the money supply.

How have they been able to do this?  They know the power of; Thought, word, deed.  They know the majority of people do not yet understand their own personal power and are susceptible to fear.  And, they know that most people are unconscious so that they are able to literally act in “broad daylight” and no one will notice.

Well, mostly no one will notice.  There are many people who understand what is going on, but similar to other so called ‘radical’ spiritual and political leaders of the past most people choose to ignore them  and settle for what their egos determine is comfortable and ‘safe’ while the world burns around them.

Do not get caught up in the question of why these people affiliated with the Trilateral Commission do what they do.  Some may act on fear; some may actually believe the dogma and some may just do what they do because they can.  Mostly they act on ego to control and not Love, for an act of Love is true freedom and freedom is not what these people are about.

For now try to consider that most everything you experience in the world is fabricated:  Manifested by the egos of those who rule the planet.  Begin to question everything opening up to other possibilities:  Assassinations, the World Trade Center, climate change, ISIS, ongoing wars, famines, economic gyrations, health care, epidemics, presidential politics, party politics, gun control and crime, the news, the war on drugs, the war on cancer, your fears and your purpose.

I would ask that you do not overthink what has been written here.  Certainly do not become fearful, for it is fear that the Trilateral Commission and those they influence use to control. Simply be aware in a non-judgmental manner that the world is not always as it seems and that you have the power to change how you react to it.  You have the power to get beyond the fear in search of Truth.  First, you need to be aware of what is really being manifested in our world as an observer.  Once you begin doing this without fear or judgment, those who rule the world will begin to lose control and you will begin to realize your power.  Once you realize your power you can with your thoughts and actions become a change agent.

“It’s not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true.”

 …Henry Kissinger

In order to seek Truth one needs to be fearless.  In order to promote spiritual evolution, one needs to evoke Love.  In order to change the world, one needs to be awake and know their true power.

Know you are powerful.  Know you are Love.